Coming December 29, 2019
What is your New Year’s Resolution? Are there any big changes that you hope that you have the resolve to undertake? If 2020 is like past years, the number of fitness club and gym memberships will spike during January. And, if the patterns of past years hold true, most new memberships will come to an end within 24 weeks. Well, 6 months of working on fitness is better than none at all.
You are invited to join a different kind of fitness club this year. A club without a monthly fee. We are calling it the Daniel Club, after the person who inspired it. Daniel was a prophet during the time that the people of Judah were in exile. Daniel challenged the temptations of all you can consume buffets and prevailed. But Daniel didn’t do it alone.
The Daniel Club is comprised of people who are following a proven recipe for improved fitness and health called the Daniel Plan. While there are multiple variations on this theme we chose a plan developed by physicians in partnership with Saddleback Church in Southern California. This plan is based on five pillars that make it possible to achieve goals that are ordinarily impossible for most of us: faith, friends, food, fitness, and focus.
Our series that ended with Thanksgiving considered what is means to say that Food is medicine. In that series we learned that our bodies are temples for the Holy Spirit. So how we treat our bodies matter a great deal. For the Christmas season, our series is called Pono, The Intersection of violence and beauty. These themes come together in our first series for 2020, titled, The Daniel Plan.
We will begin on Sunday, December 29, by writing down a resolution for 2020. For most of us, our resolution will be the same. “In 2020 I will make my health and well-being a priority by participating in the Daniel Plan.” During the first five weeks of 2020, we will learn about each of the pillars of success, set goals for ourselves, and meet regularly with others who have made this same New Years Resolution.
We are hoping to include options for each of us to find a fitness program that works for our circumstances. More information is coming. The Asbury Café will support us with menu selections and classes on how to prepare foods that add to our well being.
Join us each Sunday and invite your friends and neighbors. I lead a short Bible study in the Asbury Café at 9:30 am. Dusty 2.0, the musical, will be performed on Christmas Eve at 6 pm. We are praying for a big turnout, and that most of our visitors will return to participate in the Daniel Plan.
Pastor Tommy
1 Having Nothing, Possessing Everything: Finding Abundant Communities in Unexpected Places. Rev Michael Mather. Grand Rapids: Wm B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2018.
2 “The Energy of Anger,” Matt James, PhD. © 2019, Psychology Today.